The views and opinions expressed in this blog do not in any way reflect the views and opinions of the US Peace Corps or the US government

Off I go onto the next chapter of my life volunteering as a Peace Corps Coastal Resource Management Extension Worker

Saturday, July 05, 2014

Super Typhoon Yolanda and the Amazing Strength of the Filipino Spirit

We knew it, Typhoon Yolanda, was coming. The community was
prepared. People who needed to be evacuated to safer areas were moved
there. Massive cutting of trees happened to mitigate the damage they could do.

My favorite trees in town, a row of gigantic acacias were severely pruned to half their size, filling the street with piles of growth to be chopped up and hauled off. Amazingly, Yolanda blew them apart even more, filling the street again.

Pruning the acacias before Yolanda

After Yolanda the acacias are a quarter the size they were

Our group of five PCVs in my area
made the decision to NOT consolidate in Baybay but stay where we were. Going to
Baybay only put me closer to the center of the typhoon.

Villarubins' evacuation center

Our house became a mini evacuation center. We expected it to
hit about 10AM and pass in two hours. The wind woke me up at 3AM. We had no
power, no cell phone service and of course no internet. Three windows were
broken and half of the tree in the back broke off. About 9:00 I realized I had
a problem in my room. I’d closed the two windows that would close but the third
set of windows couldn't close because of the air con unit. We hadn't thought
about the upper two thirds of the window opening having only cardboard in them.
The cardboard had been blown out and the typhoon was entering my room. I wish I
could have videotaped this most exciting and somewhat comical operation. It
took Alex, Anita and I twenty minutes to get the air con unit out and those
windows shut. I did take video out windows during the storm. The Firm gas
station roof almost took off like a magic carpet but after tipping back and forth ended up standing vertical.

The barometric pressure went below the lowest reading for a
long time. This bothered me quite a bit. At one point I was laying on my bed
holding my head wanting it to be over. I’m glad it was daylight because ten
hours passed before we were able to go outside and view the devastation. Half
the trees were down on top of houses and blocking the roads even though
extensive pruning and trimming had been done in preparation.

Our restaurant outdoor seating area had a double fence. Now the outer corrugated aluminum fence is history.

This big tree went down on our neighbor's house and what was he most concerned about?His fighting cocks' pens were demolished. Here you see him with one of his fighting cocks.

Our weekend market stalls were flattened.

We had food. We had water because even without power we could hand pump water from the well.
We rigged a hose up to my bathroom where I filled a garbage can to use for dip
baths and toilet flushing.

Having no cell phone service was unexpected. I knew
people would be worried about me but I had no way to send or receive
information. This is when I discovered
not even the mayor had any way to communicate with the outside world.

I'd told family members they could contact Peace Corp for updates in case this happened. I thought PC Headquarters would know but how could they know when all
communication lines were down? My daughter placed a call and knew before I did that
someone was on the way to evacuate me.

Three days after the typhoon, to my surprise my PC Regional Manager, Boni
Bucol, showed up at the door. Five minutes later I was in the van; the first evacuee,
wondering where the others were. He’d driven to and notified the others to get
ready to go and came and got me first so we could then back track and pick them
up on the way back to the ferry in Ormoc. Nice for them but not so good for me.
I was in pajamas & flip flops, forgot extra shoes and lots of other stuff I would have and should have grabbed not
knowing if I’d ever be back.

It was getting dark by the time we got Laura Mudge and
Marsha Ricketts in Baybay and Baybay was in much worse shape than Inopacan
being closer to the centre of the storm.
Now we were three; three of the last five PCV to be accounted for. It was kind of cool, listening to Boni check in with headquarters; updating
them on his progress, letting them know we were alive and OK. Everyone was OK except for Peggy
posted two hours North of Ormoc. No one knew if she was dead or alive. Sharlene was waiting for us in Ormoc.

I’ll never forget the
drive from Baybay to Ormoc, normally about an hour.

I didn't take this but got it from google. This must have been taken laterwhen the hiway had been cleared more.

The devastation grew worse
the further we went. Every power pole and tree was down. If the poles were not
all the way down they were precariously hanging over the road. Burned out electrocuted vehicles, bundles of
wire on the ground or hanging low over our heads, the only light coming from
hundreds of cans with candles lining the edge of the road, illuminating
hundreds of stunned faces. Skeletons of structures black against the darkness
were all that was left of these peoples’ homes. The path had been cleared
enough for one lane of traffic to get through. We picked our way along. I don’t
know how many times I said “Oh my God”.

Poor Sharene was waiting for us at the Ormaoc dock, or what was left of it.

Again this is from google. It was pitch black when we arrived.

Now we
were four. She’d been waiting for two
hours by herself in the dark, because she was told to go there and wait for us,
amidst broken glass and debris, destroyed buildings and hundreds of distraught
people trying to get out. Sharene was with her host family when Yolanda blew
the house apart and for the two following days with no water or food other than
her peanut butter which she shared with her family.

This is in Ormoc and these kind of SOS signs worked in many cases. I heard stories about US helicopters dropping supplies for these people.

The drive was bad but this was the worst part for me. Our
boat Passage had been arranged and luckily the boat was late or we wouldn’t
have made it. Boni‘s a big young strong
(and handsome) Filipino. He got us into a group and pushed a pathway for us to
run through the crowd and confusion. I felt ashamed. I couldn’t look at people.
I was getting out and they weren’t. Boni handed us off to Sakib who was waiting
for us at the ramp and would be getting us to a hotel in Cebu for the night and
on to Manila the next day. Boni took off to go find Peggy. You can imagine how
grateful we all were to hear from Boni the next day that he’d located Peggy and
she was OK.

Here we are looking very happy with Sakib at the hotel in Cebu feeling pamperedwith hot water showers, cable TV, wifi and a buffet breakfast

Over 6000 dead. It could be 12,000. No one knows for sure.

The devastation and suffering in Tacloban is horrifying

I love this video because this is how the people really are; always ready to sing and dance, laugh and have fun.It shows the strength of the Filipino Spirit.